The Sun. — London, England, 1864-04-19 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT HOUSE OF LORDS—Last Evening. The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsao); at the usual hour. METROPOLITAN RAILWAYS. The Earl of DERBY presented a petition from the ;inha bitants of the parish of St. Bride's, praying their lor'tships not to sanction the making of any more new railwaYa in the metropolis. ANOTHER NEW GUN. The Earl of DERBY called the attention of the Secre tary of War to a description, which had appeared in the Liverpool papers, of soma experiments that had been made with a gun invented by a gentleman of the name of Mackay. The shot sent from the gun had passed through one of the massive targets, drilling out a piece of iron from the plate outside, and carrying it through and casting it many yards beyond the target. The sand upon which the shot fell showed that the spiral motion was kept up to the last. The Earl DE GREY and RIPON said he had sent an officer down to Liverpool to witness the effects of the gun in question, and a report had been received which confirmed the principal points mentioned in the public newspapers. The rest of the experiments made were curious and in teresting, and it would be advisable to make further in quiries as to the value of the invention. No decision had been come to with respect to the gun, as the distance at which the target was placed was short, but the effect of the shot fired from the new gun had been such that further ex periments and trials would become necessary before he ex pressed a decided opinion upon it. The Earl of HARD WICKE condemned the Armstrong guns on board some of the ships in the royal navy, and he considered the proceedings at Kagosima showed that these guns were worse than useless. He advised the noble duke the First Lord of the Admiralty to remove them, and replace them with guns similar to those of which he was the inventor. The Duke of SOMERSET said he was not the inventor of a gun. He had offered certain suggestions, and a gun had been constructed in conformity with those suggestions. In a short time he hoped to be able to communicate to their lordships which was the best gun for the service, the rifled or smooth-Lore. The ships would be armed with which ever gun proved to be the best. After some further conversation the subject dropped. 'THE STEAM RAMS. The Earl of DERBY gave notice that on Tuesday, the 26th inst., he should call attention to the correspondence between her Majesty's Government and Messrs. Laird of Birkenhead, in reference to the steam rams in the Mersey. THE RESIGNATION OF MR. LOW. Earl GRANVILLE announced that in consequence of the vote in the House of Commons on Lord R. Cecil's mo tion on Tuesday last the Right Hon. R. Lowe had resigned the office of Vice-President of the Council of Education. The noble earl highly eulogised the ability of the late Minis ter, and observed that the educational department of the Government had made enormous progress under his auspices. He also remarked that the right hon. gentleman had not been guilty of any undue interference with the reports of the inspectors of schools. The Earl of DERBY said he understood that a commit tee of the House of Commons was to be appointed to inquire into the subject, and this appeared to him the most expedi ent course to be adopted. The Union Relief Aid Acts Continuance Bill and the Land Drainage (Provisional Orders) Bill were read a second time. The Vestry Cess Abolition (Ireland) Bill was read a third time and passed. Their lordships then adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS—Last Evening. The SPEAKER took the chair at four o'clock. NEW MEMBER. Mr. BREMRIDGE took the oaths and his seat for Barn• staple, the committee having decided that his opponent, Mr. Thomas Lloyd, had been guilty of bribery through his agents, and therefore that his election was void. PRIVATE BUSINESS. The following bills were read a third time and passed : North and South Western Junction Railway—Salisbury Gas—t.salisbury Railway and Market House—and West Riding and Grimsby Railway. NEW WRIT—QUESTION OF PRIVILEGE. Mr. BRAND moved that a writ should issue for the elec tion of a member for the Borough of Merthyr Tydvil in the room of Mr. A. Brace, who had accepted the office of Vice- President of the Committee of the Council of Education. Sir W. HEATHCOTE drew attention to the question of their being five Under Secretaries of State in the house, and moved as an amendment that the motion for a new writ should be postponed until the constitutional question should be decided. Mr. HEADLAM contended that such a course would be most inconvenient. After some remarks from Mr. WHITESIDE, Sir W. DUNDAS sail that if it were proved that five under secretaries of state ought not to be members of the house, then the last appointed under secretary (the Marquis of Hartington) was the member who was not occupying a place in this house according to the provisions of the sta tutes. (No, no.) The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said that the course pro posed by the hon. baronet (Sir W. Heathcote) was a most unnecessary proceeding. It would be improper to postpone a writ until after a subtle and refined discussion had taken place on a constitutional question. He referred to a case in point in 1808, when there wero only three Under-Secre taries in the house as a precedent in the present case. Mr. DISRAELI and Sir GEORGE GREY made a few ob servations, and the motion was then withdrawn. THE GOVERNMENT POLICY IN REGARD TO THE DANISH QUESTION. Mr. DISRAELI gave notice that when the hon. member for Liskeard brought on his motion in regard to the policy of the Government in regard to the hostilities between Den mark and the German Powers, he would move the, previ ous question. THE ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSION. Mr. H. SEYMOUR asked tke Secretary of State for the Home Department if the Government intended to introduce this session any bill relating to the Ecclesiastical Commis. sion. Sir G. GREY said that he had communicated with the commission, but he was not prepared to pledge himself to introduce any bill on the subject. NATIONAL SCHOOLS IN IRELAND. Mr. O'BEILLY asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland when the return relative to religious instruction in national schools in Ireland, ordered last session, and again early this session, will be laid upon the table. Sir E.. PEEL said that the return had been received at the Castle last Saturday, and would shortly be laid on the table. CAPTAIN GORDON. Col. SYKES asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether any information had been re ceived at the Foreign-office that Captain Gordon, of the Royal Engineers, who was in command of Chinese troops in the service of the Futai of Shanghai, had condoned the treachery of the Futai in putting to death the Taeping princes at Loochow and plundering the city, and against which Captain Gordon himself, Major-General Brown, commanding the British troops in China, and all the European Consuls at Shanghai, had published an indig nant protest; whether he had consented to continue in the service of the Fatal notwithstanding these indignant protests. Mr. LAYARD said that the Government were in com munication with the Chinese Government on the subject. CORN RENTS. Mr. HUBBARD asked the President of the Poor-law Board whether his attention had been directed to the deci sion in the Common Pleas on the sth Feb., to the effect " that lands charged with ' corn rents payable free of rates' should be assessed at the full annual value, without making any deduction for the corn rent charge:' whether the board accept that decision as declaratory of the law, and will communicate it to such parishes as have asked for in formation ? Mr. VILLIERS said that the decision was accepted as declaratory of the law. EXTRADITION TREATY BETWEEN AUSTRIA AND RUSSIA. Mr. YORKE asked the First Lord of the Treasury, 'whether there exists any extradition treaty between Austria a nd Russia: whether his attention has been called to an order published by General Mensdorf, dated Lemberg, March 16, 1864, and to a similar order published by General Meek!, dated Cracow, March 12th, 1864, ordering all Polish refugees to be immediately sent back across the frontier : and, whether her Majesty's ambassador at Vienna has been, or would be, instructed to use the friendly influence of this country, in order to put a stop to such inhuman practices. Lord PALMERSTON was understood to say he was not informed of any such treaty. M r . P. HENNESSY hoped that all the despatches on this subject would be laid on the table RESIGNATION OF MIL. LOWE. Mr. LO WE, who spoke from the fourth bench on the Ministerial side of the house, explained that iaconscquence of the decision come to on Tuesday last, upon the motion of Lord C. Cecil, which he took in the light of a direct charge against himself that he had mutilated the reports of school inspectors by striking out such portions of them as were unfavourable to the administration of the educational department, he had felt it his duty to resig n the office of Vice-President of the Council on Education, The right lion, gentleman complained that the house had arrived at a decision suddenly and in the absence of all evidence, and, alluding to some reports that hid been circulated among members whilst the debate was proceeding, and which con tained marked passages, denounced as " base" the conduct of those subordinates in the education department who had betrayed their trust by furnishing these documents. Those remarks, however, he observed, ought never to have been made, an d th ey had not been made by the order or with the knowledge of Earl Granville or himself, or for the pur pose of influencing the inspectors as to the passages which they were to omit from their reports. They were placed there, in fact, in pursuance of a mistaken and erroneous practice which prevailed until 18G2, when he forbade it, and 'without his knowledge, by a clerk in the office, whose busbaess it was merely to read the reports, and call the st 4 ,,ention of the Secretary to such passages as Le might think worthy of his notice, All that he had ever dcne with the reports when they were not framed in ac 30Idanoe with the minute of January, 1861, was to return them to the writers, and leave them to discover for thus Ives in what respect their reports militated against the rule and prin ciple laid down for their guidance by the department. Lord R. CECIL regretted that the right hon. gentleman should have taken the resolution as directed personally against himself, when in truth it was aimed at a practice which he regarded as deserving of censure. If the right hon. gentleman had on Tuesday given a similar expla nation to that of this evening in all probability the motion would not have been pressed to a division, or if it had it would have been attended with a very different result. But instead of that he left the house in perfect ignorance on the question whether there had ever been any discussion in the office with respect to affixing marks to the inspectors' reports. Lord PALMERSTON remarked that Lord R. Cecil ought to have ascertained, before he called upon the house to express an opinion, whether the practice he condemned had been continued or not since 1862, As to the resignation of his right hon. friend, he had accepted it with very great pain at losing the services of one who, by the extenaive range of his knowledge, the logical accuracy of his mind, and his soundness of judgment, was eminently qualified to do good service to the country. He had endeavoured to per suade the right hon. gentleman that the question at issue was not one of veracity on his part, but related to the prac tice of his department; that it was not a case in which to ask the house to rescind its vote, but rather to appoint a select committee to inquire in what manner the minute of Council had been carried into effect ; but his endeavour had been unsuccessful. He was sure, however, that the house would be of opinion that the vote of Tuesday was a hasty decision, and that it would be only consistent with parlia mentary justice and the character of the house to appoint a committee for the purpose of ascertaining whether the im pression under which the majority had voted was or was not well founded. Mr. DISRAELI took the statement of Mr. Lowe, so far as his personal honour was concerned, as perfectly satisfac tory. At the same time he held that the conduct of Lord R. Cecil had throughout been frank and straightforward. Due notice of the motion was given, yet none of those prepara tions were made on the Ministerial side of the house to sup port the right hon. gentleman that his high position and talent had been lost to the public service, as it would appear from his not having been properly supported by his col leagues. The subject then dropped. UNDER SECRETARIES OF STATE IN THE HOUSE OF CbhIMONS, Mr. DISRAELI then rose and said that it was his duty to call the attention of the house to the consideration of a question of privilege arising out of the distribution of offices in the two Houses of Parliament. The question was one, in a constitutional sense, of considerable inconvenience, and might, if neglected, produce results of a character so seri ous that it was difficult adequately to describe them. The condition of embarrassment and danger in which the house was placed had its origin in the manner in which the pre sent Government had been formed on the noble lord's (Palmerston's) accession to office. On that occasion the majority of the great offices of State hail been apportioned to the House of Lords. Though no inexorable rule could be laid down on the subject, there were certain principles which ought to guide the individual who found himEelt in the po sition of being called upon to form a Government in the distribution of offices. The heads of the two great depart ments of public expenditure should find seats in the House of Commons. With regard to the Secretaries of State, at least a majority should have seats in the House of Com mons. The constitution had in practice adequately pro vided for the representation of the Ministry in the other House of Parliament. The Lord Chancellor must sit in the House of Lords. The President of the Council, with very rare exceptions, had always been a Lord President. Since the passing of the Reform Bill, a majority of the Prime Ministers had sat in the House of Lords. Added to this, the chief officers of the household had generally been found in the House of Lords. A fair share of subordi nates, too, had generally been found in that house, so that no one could say that the constitution had not fur nished an adequate representation of the Government in the Upper House. Comparing the business which the two houses conducted, it was obvious that in the House of Commons the great majority of the great offices of State should be represented by those who held these offices, Shortly before the Government had been formed, it was said that the Government of the country ought to be conducted by the educated section of the Liberal party, but he did not then imagine that the interpretation of that phrase contemplated the conclusion which had been accom plished—that a majority of the great offices of the State in the new Government were to be assigned to the custody of half a dozen peers of the realm. (Hear, hear.) It was rather a slur upon the vote which had been passed upon their help less predecessors, that the Liberal party could not furnish leaders in that popular branch of the Legislature. There was, however, something dearer, he was sure, to both sides of the house than party triumphs, and that was the charac ter and authority of the House of Commons. (Hear.) All must be sorry that anything should take place which would humiliate the character of the house, or place it in a posi tion which should not add to the confidence and respect felt for it by the country. (Hear.) For his part he looked upon parliamentary government as admirably adapted to this country, and believed that without two organised parties government would be practically impossible, and he felt grieved when either of the great parties had gone beyond the point which was necessary for the good government of the country. Well, a question had arisen with regard to the distribution of offices, because—in consequence of the plan on which the present administration was formed—the prin cipal offices of the State had necessarily been represented in this house by under-secretaries, or by members of the admi nistration bearing perhaps a different title, but having a similar rank. He perhaps should not have interfered in the matter had it not been from an expression of the noble lord, who, when he (Mr Disraeli) offered some legitimate criticism on the conduct of a Secretary of State who happened to sit in the House of Lords, denounced the attack as indefensible because it was made on an absent man. (Opposition cheers.) It then clearly appeared in what situation members of the Opposition would be placed when they brought forward questions of great interest, because they would be placed in collision with gentlemen who could not properly encounter them on such grave subjects, in consequence of their not being in the counsels of the Sovereign, nor cognisant of the advice and policy approved by the Government. , There had been impending over the house for a considerable time an inevitable reconstruction of the Government to a certain extent, through a cause which all must regret, the retire ment from public life of the Duke of Newcastle, a sedulous, able, and conscientious minister. On his quitting office that reconstruction of the ministry which had been antici pated took place. It was extremely partial, and the first result upon reflection was that the subordinate members of the Government who represent the high offices of State in this house had not been materially reduced. Again the question was considered and it was discovered that the state of affairs which had been deemed politically injerious was in fact flagrantly illegal. (Hear.) He wished to place be fore the house the state of the law about Under-Secretaries of State. It might appear a very arrogant thing that he, a layman, should presume eve. to make a statement, much less an inference, on a eeeject so professional and techni cal ; and he might eerhaps have been daunted in this en terprise by the observation of the Attorney-General, who had said that this subject was most refined and complicated. There were some men who had refined and complicated minds, and there was nothing which, under their magical manipulation, did not become refined and complicated. And he must say that the Attorney General was a master of the art of refinement and complication. (Laughter.) But the matter was, after all, as clear as crystal. The tenure of office in this country was mainly regulated by statute, and it was principally regulated, so far as concerned the house, by an Act of Queen Anne, passed, he believed, in 1708. At that period there was a strong opinion that there were suffi cient placemen in the House of Commons, and it was re solved that the number should not be increased, and an Act was passed which enacted that any one who accepted any office in the service of the Crown bringing pecuniary emolument created after the year 1705 should by the accep tance of that office become incapable of being elected a mem ber of that house, or of sitting and voting in it. Now, lee could not place before the house more neatly the effect of the Act of Anne than in this way. When the Act was passed Queen Anne had three Secretaries of State and three Under Secretaries of State. But the day after that Act was passed, if the Queen had, in the exercise of her un doubted right, appointed a fourth Secretary of State, and consequently a fourth Under Secretary of Sate, both those offices would have been considered new offices—that is, created subsequently to the year 1705—and the holders of those offices would have been incapable of sitting in the Reuse of Commons. A very considerable period, nearly 70 years, elapsed before there was any further legislation affect ing seats in the House of Commons, Very great events, and very great disasters had occcurred. We had lost our Ame rican colonies, and the country was in a state of great dis tress and despondency. There arose, as was always the case in England under such circumstances, a cry for admi nistrative and economical reform. Mr. Burke, one of the greatest men who ever sat in that house, brought forward in 1782 a bill for economical reform, and under that bill, which passed into law, the Secretaryship of State for the Colonies was abolished, together with all the offices depen dent upon it. The result was that only two Secretaries of State and two Under Secretaries were permitted to sit in the House of Commons. That state of affairs prevailed for a period of 70 years; and though in that period new Secre taryships State—and consequently new Under-Secretary ships—were created, yet the holders of these new offices were appointed solely by the prerogative of the King, and not by statute, and none of them ever sat in the Rouse of Commons. Ile ought, however, to have re • minded the house that in Mr. Burke's Act of economi cal reform, when the Secretary of State for the Colonies was abolished, it was expressly provided that, in case any office for the same or a similar purpose should be created, it should, to all intents and purposes, be what was termed a new office—that is, an office subject to the provision of the statute of Anne. Well, at the time of the Crimean war, the noble lord who was then Prime Minister recommended the house to appoint a new Secretary of State, who should preside over the War Department. It was necessary to bring in a bill for the purpose, which ultimately became a statute. And the house would mark this. Although there was not the slightest donbt, frot the lan guage of Mr Burke's Act, that Chry two Secretaries could sit in the house, doubts had been raised whether the word . ing of the ant was sufficiently precise to touch the Under Secretaries. Now, in the act which had the sanction of the noble lord, all doubt upon this point was set at rest, for there was a recital that, whereas doubts had been rained ais to the number of Under Secretaries that might sit in the House of Commons, it was thereby decided that three Under Secre taries might sit in the house, and no more. (Hear, hear.) The next step in our history was the Indian mutiny, the expiration of the Company's charter, and the necessity of bringing in a bill for the transference of their vast posses sions to the Crown. The then President of the Board of Control brought in an act, and, in deference to the wishes of the house, the office of President of the Board of Control was converted into that of a Secretary of State for India, with the power of appointing an tinder Secretary in place of the two joint secretaries of the Board of Control. By that four Secretaries of State became qualified to sit in the house, and four Under Secretaries. He believed there was no person in the house who would question the accuracy of that position. The law depended upon a statute which they themselves had devised and passed. He must now call the attention of the house to the strange fact that throughout this session of Parliament at least five Under Secretaries of State had been sitting in the house. There were the Under Secretary for the Colonies, the hon. member for Louth; the Under Secretary for India, the hen, member for Falmouth ; the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, the hon. member for Southwark; the Under-Secretary for the Home Department, the late member for Merthyr; and lastly the Under-Secretary for the War Department, the hon. member for North Devonshire, or whom they sup posed was the member for North Devonshire. (Laughter.) It was of the utmost importance that no person should sit and vote in the house who was not qualified for exercising those high duties. He did not think he could bring the matter as regarded its importance more completely before them than by showing how much might depend upon the materials of which the House of Commons was composed being of an authentic character. He had upon a former occasion reminded the house of the important historical events, and the equally important laws, which had passed by slight majorities, and even by casting votes. Hon. gentlemen considered in these days that historical illustra tion was of little value. He was not of that school, and did not believe that a popular assembly could maintain its authority unless it respected the example and experience of its predecessors. What made the House of Commons so influential in contradistinction to the popularity of other countries but this—that, when any great difficulty and complication arose, the country felt that they were not solv ing it merely by the present thought and existing intelli gence of that house ? He need not travel far to show the house how important it was that they should be most strict that no one should vote in that house who was not entitled to do it. There was no question more important than a question of a vote of want of confidence, when the two great parties of the country meet with contending principles, and challenge the decision of the House of Commons. That issue was one of a most powerful character, as the tone and temper of the policy of the country depend upon the vote of the House of Commons. Within his own time there happened a struggle of that kind—the struggle which brought the late Sir R. Peel to the helm in 1841. (Hear, hear.) Considering the character of that eminent man, the measures he brought forward, and the influence of his career upon parties and upon other events in that no one can regard that as an ordinary political struggle, and yet Sir R. Peel was made Prime Minister of this country by one vote. Suppose there had been at that time one or two Under Secretaries of State to vote on that question moved by Sir R. Peel. Those Under Secretaries would not have had confidence in Sir R. Peel; they would,have had more confidence in themselves than Sir Robert, and would have voted accordingly. But suppose, after that de cision, it was discovered that those two Under Secretaries had no right to vote; it would therefore be seen how im portant it was that the house should be properly constituted. He would take the present session as affording a most strik ing instance of the importance attaching to this matter. The house remembered the division on the question of the yeomanrp. (Hear.) The Government thought it expedient to omit in the annual vote the sum proposed for calling out the yeomanry. An hon. friend of his had challenged the propriety of that decision and appealed to the house; but the question was not of that limited character which in that hurried discussion it had assumed. The question of the yeomanry was of a very peculiar character. He was in favour of a reduction, and he had seen with satisfaction the reductions which the Government had made of late years, without impairing the efficiency of the service. But the question of the yeomanry was a different one. He could conceive nothing more inexpedient than, at a time when they were spending so much energy in stimulating the volunteer institution—one of the most satisfactory events at the present time—than at such.a time to deal a blow of dis couragement at the only considerable body of cavalry the country possessed. By that division they lost a policy which they thought sound, and which had since been adopted by the Government by one vote. The motion was connected with the °ate of Under Secretary for War; and the Under Secretary, representing the policy of the Government, spoke upon that occasion with all the influence and authority of a person in office. .He not only spoke but voted. (Hear, hear.) They were defeated by one vote; and yet at the time the Under Secretary, who had taken so decided a part, had no more right to speak and sit in that house and vote than the stranger who at that moment was passing over Westminster- bridge. (Laughter.) He thought the house would agree that the subject was one which should not be neglected. The noble lord seemed to think it surprising that they had not sooner called atten tion to the point. He thought the house was somewhat in fault upon the subject, and he was ready to take his share of the blame; but if their sin had been a sin of omission, the sin of the Government was not only one of omission but of commission. It was to the noble lord more than to all others they should look for regularity in these matters; but it was, perhaps, the unlimited confidence in the noble lord that everything he did was right that got the house into the difficulty. The noble lord occupied the posit ion not only of First Minister, but a position only second to it, that of leader of the house, They had a right to expect from the noble lord, who was the champion of their rights and trustee of their honour, that his first duty would be to see that no one should be mixed up in their deliberations who had no right to be present. The noble lord was the individual, it any one, to be visited with the displeasure of the house; and he thought that the condact of tho noble ford required some explanation rather than that the taunt should be thrown upon any hon. member Oppewice. Ho would suggest a course which the house should take in the present case. The position in whir/. they found themselves was one which concerned the house, and it was the duty of the house to sot itself right without loss of time. They should do that is a manner which could not be mistaken, in a way becom ing the dignity of the house, and also at once definite and decisive, but which, as the expression of opinion was concerned, did not in any way reflect upon any member of that house. He had no wish himself to shrink from the responsibility which every hon. member must have incurred by that unprecedented state of affairs. But it was necessary to take a constitutional course, and that having found the critical position in which the house was placed, they should put on record the opinion of the house in a manner not to be mistaken; so that hereafter Under-Sec retaries of State should be appointed by future Ministers without due examination and reflection, and that there should be a complete record of what had legally been done, and the remedy which the house had proposed to apply to the circumstances of the case. It was with this feeling that ho would propose the follow ing resolution :—" Notice having been taken by a member of this house that more than four Under-Secretaries of State have been sitting and voting in this house some time during this present session, Resolved—That the provisions of the 21 and 22 Vic., c, 106, sec. 4, have been violated, and that the seat of the fifth Under-Secretary of State has been, and is thereby vacated." Viscount PALMERSTON—There aro some things stated by the right hon. gentleman in which I entirely con cur, and there are some things which afford a very remark able comment upon the progress of constitutional principles and government in this country; because he reminds us that whereas in the early part of the last century there was a jealousy in the House of Commons as to the sitting in it of persons holding high offices in the State, now, on the contrary, by the great increase of political power and the progress of events in this house, there oecurs the opposite feeling, and the desire that persons holding important offices in the State should, within certain limits, have seats in this house, and sit face to face, and be personally responsible to the House of Commons. That is a very sig nificant commentary upon the great development of the power of this house between the period referred to and that in which we are now speaking. The right hon. gentleman stated that there ought to be in this house the full number of Secretaries of State which the law allows, viz., four; end ho found fault with those who framed the present Government for having put an undue pro portion of the great offices of the Government in the House of Lords, and not a duo proportion in the House of Com mons. I think the right hon. gentleman was speaking without having sufficiently attended to the circumstances of the case. When the present Government was formed, it consisted of fifteen Cabinet Ministers—of whom ten were in this house, and five only in the other house of Parlia ment—and four Secretaries of State were included in that number of ten. We all recollect there was the War De partment, Foreign-office, India, and the Home Department ; all the heads of these departments were members of the House of Commons. Then came the unfortunate illness of Mr. Sidney Herbert, which affected the Secretary of State for War. That unfortunate illness led to his rerhoval to the House of Lords, in the hope, which unfortunately proved vain, that by going to an assembly where less at tendance was required that aflicting disease which had weighed upon him might be removed by medical skill. Lord Herbert, as he then became, fell a victim to that disease. When that occurred we took the opportunity of bringing back the War Department in the person of Sir George Lewis. Then my noble friend, Lord Russell, was removed to the House of Lords, that dignity of peerage THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, APRIL 19, 1864. being conferred as a reward for long and eminent services, and also from the circumstance that his health was affected by his labours in the House of Commons. Under these cir • cumstances we had, still thiee SeOrettiries of State in this hotise'. Then Sir George Lewis was unhappily taken from us, and peculiar circumstances connected with the welfare of the army led us to place that department under the care of Lord De Grey, who had long been Under-Secretary for that department, and had acquired knowledge of all those improvements which the late Lord Herbert had, during his life, been anxious to carry into effect, and had so suc cessfully for a time curried into effect. (Hear, hear.) Not only had we, when we framed the Government, ten Cabi net Ministers in this house, but amongst these ten is the person who holds the office—l can't say I worthily till—the office of the First Lord of the Treasury, which office was filled by Lord Lierby in the House of Peers. Therefore, I contend, if you compare the original oonstitu tion and progressive changes of the present Government with the original constitution of Lord Derby's Government, you will find that the House of Commons has had its proper share of those members who occupy an important position in the administration of affairs. But I cannot undertake to go into those legal questions which the right hon. gentle man has dealt with. My hon. and learned friend, the Attorney-General, - will enter upon them with greater ability and without complication. The right hon. gentleman main tains that one of these five gentleman must vacate his seat; that question will be fully discussed by the Attorney- Gene , rah But lam quite ready to admit that, unintentionally and by oversight, we have done that which the law does not authorise us to do. I must take blame to myself—(hear, hear)—as I quite agree that it is my duty, holding the office I do, and originating the different appointments—that I ought, perhaps, to have inquired more deeply and minutely into the state of the law. The right hon. gentleman and those who act with him must share the blame. (No, no.) Yes I IV hat is the natural occupation of an Opposition ? What are they created for—(laughter)—if not assigned by Providence to watch with keen eye their opponents, and pick them up even before they fall —or, at all events, to mark their stumbling ? It is therefore the peculiar func tion of an Opposition to correct anything that may be wrong or blameable on the part of the Government, and I must say that we have a right to complain—(much laugh ter)—of the right hon. gentleman, and of those who sit with him, that since April in last year they have persever ingly held out in a course which they must have known, although they do not admit it, was wrong in point of law. (Renewed laughter.) They laid a trap for us, which I think has not a record in parliamentary history. I don't think what the right hon. gentleman proposes would be sufficient for the purpose, because when a law has been broken somebody must be liable to some penalty. I am not prepared to say on whom the penalty would fall, or what the penalty would ..be. I apprehend that no penalty attaches by the Act to either of these five Secreta ries of State who ,in excess of the law has a seat in this house. But where there is no penalty attached to the law it becomes a misdemeanor; and as to the penalties of mis demeanor, my learned friend will have to consider who the parties are who incur that penalty. What we should pro pose as a measure of security to those, whoever they may be, and which would be a more effective record than the re solution of the right hon. gentleman, that a bill of indem nity should be brought in to record that the law has been violated; and, by recording it, thus place beyond question that nobody henceforward shall do the same thing. The legal state of things has ceased, because, by the acceptance by the Under-Secretary of the Home Department of the office of the late Vice-President of the Board of Education, the hon. member for Merthyr-Tydvil has vacated his seat, and therefore there are only four Under-Secretaries now in this house. I cannot agree with the resolution ; but I hope the right hon, gentleman will agree to the bill of indem nity, and, if he is at all anxious, there shall be a special clause for himself with regard to any responsibility which he may have incurred. (A laugh.) We will take the blame upon ourselves. and say that was our duty to have looked more narrowly into the subject. (Cheers.) _ . _ The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said it would be neces sary for him to correct some errors into which the right hon. gentleman had fallen in his statement with reference to the Acts of Parliament bearing upon this subject. The right hon, gentleman had entirely mistaken the effect of the Act of Queen Anne, which passed in the year 1708. By that Act the right hon. gentleman supposed that no more than three Secretaries of State should sit in that house, but it was an entire mistake to suppose that Act had any reference to Under-Secretaries. It the right hon. gentleman was correct, the office of Under- Secretary was an office of profit under the Crown,and therefore every Under-Secretary down to the pre sent time ought to have vacated his seat upon appointment to office. It was notorious, however, that the Under Secretary of State, on appointment to office, did not vacate his seat, and that according to the universal practice of that house the office was not an office of profit under the Crown, whether created before or after the year 1705. And the reason of that was shown in the very language of the act of Parliament to be that the Under Secretary of State was not appointed by the Crown but by the Secretary of State. Therefore the Act of Anne was absolutely outside the ques tion. The right hon. gentleman next referred to Mr. Burke's bill of 1782, passing over the extremely material statute of George 11., passed in the year 1742. That act was for further limiting and reducing the number of public officers capable of sitting in the House of Commons ; and if the contention of the right hon. gentleman with respect to the act of Anne was correct, much that was done by the 15th of George 11. was entirely usegss. It was,true the act in troduced by Mr. Burke in 1782 for economical reform abo • lished the office of becretary of State for the Colonies, but it did not say one word with respect to the dependent offices —it left them where they were under the former statutes. The tact was, a Secretary of State might appoint as many under-secretaries as he thought necessary for the adminis tration of his office. The only acts which dealt with the matter at all were the two last mentioned, namely, the act of 1855, when the office of Secretary of State for War was established, and the act of 1858, when the office of Secretary of State for India was established. Those acts did limit the number of Secretaries of State which might at any one time sit in that house; and they limited the maximum number of the holders of the same office who might sit here. Therefore it was the sitting together in that house, and the voting of five TTnder Secretaries of State that constituted the corpus delicti, and not the existence of five Under Secretaries who wore members of that house. The hon. and learned gentleman then referred to analogous statutes—to the act relating to bankrupt mem bers of Parliament, and the act relating to members of Parliament obtaining Government contracts —to establish the distinction that the status of a member of Parliament might co-exfst with au inability to join in the voting of the House. He also referred to Mr. O'Connell's case, and to the case of Mr. Alderman Salomons, when first returned for Greenwich, to show that, although a member could not vote or sit in that house during its debates until he had taken the oaths, that was perfectly consistent with the maintenance of his status as a member of Parliament. There really, therefore, was nothing to render it necessary that an individual should vacate his seat because it happened that there were four others already holding the same office in Parliament. As long as such member abstains from sitting and voting in the house, the terms and objects of the Act of Parliament were complied with, and no more need be done. It could not be contended that his seat became vacant. Mr. WALPOLE doubted if a bill of indemnity was the beat means of setting the house right. The practice had always been to place some resolutions on the journals in a matter affecting as this did the privileges of the house and the state of the constitution. The motion of Mr. Disraeli, in his view, exactly met the case. Sir G. GREY assented to the first part of the resolution, but moved, as an amendment to the latter , that a select committee should be appointed to inquire whether the Under Secretary of State who was last appointed to that office had thereby vacated his seat. After a few observations from Mr. ATRTON, the motion of Mr. Disraeli, as amended by Sir G. Grey, was agreed to nem. ewe. Tho new writ for Merthyr Tydvil was then ordered to issue. PENAL SERVITUDE BILL. On the order for going into committee on the Penal Ser vitude Acts Amendment Bill, Mr. ADDERLEY moved a resolution to the effect that in the opinion of the house the system of discharge of prisoners from penal servitude on licence without police supervision should no longer be continued. The motion was opposed by Sir G. Grey, and ultimately withdrawn. The house then went into committee, and on Clause 4, Mr. H. HUNT moved to add the words : " If any holder of a licence granted under the said Penal Servitude Acts, or any of them, who shall be at large in the United King dom, shall fail to report himself to the chief police station of the borough or district where he shall be on his arrival therein, and subsequently on the first day of each month, or shall change his locality without having previously notified the same to the police station to which ho last re ported himself, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemea nour, and may be summarily convicted thereof, and his licence shall be forthwith forfeited by virtue of such con viction," The proposal was objected to by Sir G. Grey, Mr. Whit bread, and Mr. Henley; supported by Mr. Beach, Mr. Marsh, Mr. Moor, and Mr. H. Seymour; and upon a division was carried against the Government by 148 to 120. The remaining clauses were agreed to, and the bill passed through committee. The High Court at Bombay Bill and the Court of Chan cery (Dispatch of Business) Bill were read a second thee. And the Common Law Procedure (Ireland) Act (1853) Amendment Bill was read a third time and passed. The remaining business was also disposed of, and the house adjourned at 10 minutes past 1 o'clock. [ADVERTISEMENT.] Holloway's Pills. Enfeebled Existence.—This medicine embraces every attribute re quired in a general and domestic remedy—it overturns the f o undations of disease laid by defective food and impure air. In obstructions or congestions of the liver, lungs, bowels, and every other organ, these pills are especially serviceable and eminently successful. They should be kept in readi ness in every family, as they are a medicine without a fault for young persons and those of feeble constitutions. They never cause pain or irritati the most sensitive nerves or most tender bowels. Holloway's pills are the best thorough purifiers of the blood, and the best promoters of absorption and secretion which remove all poisonous and obnoxious particles from both solids and fluids. THE WAR IN DENMARK. (From the Times Special Correspondent at the Danish .stead-tuartrrs.) ULKEiwi, April. 11; The fire was tremendous yesterday from 11 in the morning till nightfall, and there was no great abate ment in its intensity after dark. No less than 17, and even 20, shots in the minute were counted, and 5,000 shells are calculated to have fallen in 24 hours. The Danes had between 70 dead and wounded on Friday, no less than 17 on Saturday morning, when the fire ceased at 9 a.m. The Danish army numbers its sick and wounded in the hospitals at the rate of 25 per 100, and in the event of some great action strewing the field with the dead and dying, it is feared that no accommodation will be found for the wounded, either in the hospitals of this island, or even iu those of Funen and Zealand, or of Copen• hagen itself, so crowded are already all charitable institutions of that nature. The Prussians have profited by the lessons of ex perience, and understand now that the efficiency of their fire must depend on its exte:,sion all along the line, and no less on its continuance throughout the 21 hours. The Danes on the bastions are harassed to death, and those who are sent to replace them are hardly less worn out than their comrades. Two or three foggy days we have had in succession have enabled the besiegers to advance their parallels within a dangerous distance. The crack of the rifle begins to b heard occasionally among the incessant reports of the artillery. The hostile batteries are on certain points within reach of the fire of small arms, and a rush over 300 or 600 yards of dry ground can at any moment refer the contest to the arbitrament of the bayonet. We thought that the moment for this supreme trial of strength had come this very morning. We were awakened at 5 by the trumpets sounding the alarm, and by the tidings brought to our bedside by a friendly officer that the Rolf Krake was leaving her anchorage. We were up in a minute, and rushed across the fields to the sea shore, where, sure enough, we saw the ironclad in motion; but we had hardly turned our glasses in that quarter when the sound of rattling chains assured us that the steamer had cast anchor. The affair at Dybbol was already over, and the co-operation of the sea forces with the land army was no longer required. We walked to headquarters at Ulkebol, and soon learnt the particulars of the encounter. The Prus sians flattered themselves that the bastions, espe cially Nos. 3 and 4, had been dismantled and their cannon silenced, and, massing a few large columns in front of those posts, sent forward their skir mishers with directions to possess themselves of the Danish rifle pits. The .Danes at outposts, however, stood their ground, and the batteries from the forts rang out in clear notes that there was life in the old Danish lion yet; whereupon the assailants came to a pause, and upon seeing the ironclad ready to come to the rescuL—the ironclad which so powerfully contributed to their defeat on the 28th of last month —they fell balk again. It was the feeblest possible attempt at an attack, and it must have given ample evidence to the Prus sians that llybbol is not to be taken by the canno❑ alone. Why, with the noise their guns have kept up for the last fortnight, it seems as if the very hill of that name, to say nothing of its bastions and of their defenders, ought by this time to have been swept away before them. But the position is not yet materially shaken, and the little army which has it iu charge, however sorely worn out and afflicted, will not surrender an inch of ground un disputed. Truly, the ordeal to which the Danish troops are exposed would overcome the most heroic endurance. All along their way from Sonderborg and its bridges, up the ascent of llybbol hill, and on the way to its forts, they are exposed to a raking fire. Not one of their tents or barracks, not one of the hollows in which they 'nave their bivouacs, and where they cook and sleep, and live altogether for 24 hours at a time, is safe from the übiquitous shells. I was to day at Sonderborg, and saw several corpses brought in, and laid in the dead-house for interment. I saw a good number of wounded men borne along by the ambulance men on stretchers, two of them hideously black in the face, begrimed with the powder of the shell that had burst between them as they lay on the ground in their sleep. Under such circumstances, can .Dybbol hold out much longer ? Will the day cone in which the de fenders, shrinking from the hurtible death that en compasses them on ail bides, will refuse to go forth across the bridges, or will the commanding officers, anticipating such a mood among their troops, be come aware of the unprofitabieness of all that irre parable waste of life, and resolve upon the surrender or simply the abandonment of the position ? That Dybbol may be given up to the Prussians seems to me far more probable than that it may ever come into their hands either by main force of arms or by a coup de main and surprise. The Prussians, we learn from their own friends, are chary of the lives of their soldiers ; they will not venture to win by bloodshed what they hope they may get by merely burning gunpowder. APRIL 12. We have ceased to venture across the bridges. There ;s not much to be dreaded from all that cease less shower of shells if you happen to be horn under a particularly lucky star, for these blundering mis siles are not aimed at your person with the fell intent and fiendish malice with which a rifle bullet singles you out among a thousand, if your uncom mon height, or the epaulates on your shoulders, or the star on your breast, attracts the marksman's attention. Still, one must be very sure that he is born to be hanged if he thinks himself safe from drowning in such deep waters. The ground be tween the bridges and the forts is literally all ploughed up by the ruthless iron hail. The soldiers pick up cartloads of fragments of shells, which they sell to the owner of a foundry in Sonderborg. One of our artillery captains, quartered here at the Ladegaard,went out on Sunday night with his field battery complete; he came back minus two horses, ono gun, and four men. He had hardly sat down to supper when his lieutenant stood before him with the intelligence that another gun was lost. Another captain who had gone out to relieve our friend was brought hick severely wounded: He had been struck on his way to outposts. All these losses are promptly and cheerfully repaired ; but there are limits to the resources of the Danish stores, and men are more difficult to replace than either horses or guns. It is not too much to say that the losses of the army must be proportionate to the damage done to these batteries. These field batteries, be it remembered, are scarcely placed in the front line ; they are merely parcelled out all round at the vari. OU3 gaps between the bastions, and are intended to act as a reserve should the heavy artillery in posi tion be silenced. For the rest, if the Prussians are adll only feeling their way,,and are at a loss how to act with consis tency and resolution, the s me cannot be said of the Danes, who have fully made up their minds, and are actually working up to the very letter of their programme. Their plan is to stand to their guns and bide their time. The enemy will scarcely ever know when their batteries may be silenced, for they are almost constantly and systematically silent. It is a steady heroi s m, of which few troops in the world could be capable. There they stand, and sit, and lie down, day and night, seeking shelter where ever any is to be found, letting the angry shells whir and rattle over their heads and burst among them, only shaking from their coats the dust with which their fragments cover them, and starting up from time to time when there is a shattered breast work to be repaired, a fallen gabion to be replaced, a dismounted cannon to be removed, or a killed or wounded comrade to be sent to the rear. They are not sullen under circumstances, nor are they cast down, though they are not as much in the humour fcr singing as they used to bo. They go to work earnestly, silentiy,with that impassive steadi ness which characterises them either in success or defeat, They have made up their minds to the worst, and the worst is to be knocked on the head and put out of trouble. Truly, it would be plea santer to give and take,and all theirsufferings would be more than fully compensated if they had a chance of a hand-to-hand fight with their foe. But; even this is too much to ask, far too much—more than they have reason to expect; they are quite content, that the cannon should be utterly idle on their own side, suffer no loss,end have the game all their own way. The Danes are aware that their artillery is no match for the enormous array of batteries which encompass them on all sides, and which from Broa gerland td tll5 woods of Sandbjerg, darken, as it were, the very sun in the heavens with their cross fire, and thread on either side that narrow gorge of the Alssund which is their only highway to the battle-field. Their task is to stand up and be shot at, and all that with the certain conviction that their devotion will be of no avail in the end. The Danes do not only fight, " hoping against hops, —they die without hope. The forts 4,6, and 8 were almost utterly dis mantled last night. Great efforts have been made to set them in tolerable repair in the morning-, but the Prussian fire has acquired a deadly effect from long practice, and before six o'clock the bastions were again a mass of ruins. A kind of sullen mu tinous spirit begins to break out among the ambu lance men—those fellows, " merry as undertakers," who, were always singing the loudest. The wounded are i❑ no danger of neglect on the part of their com rades, but the dead are not unfrequently left stiff and stark on the spot where they have fallen. The Danes have an average of 100 men hors de combat daily. How long will it take at this rate before their small army is utterly wasted and used up ? A council of war was held last Sunday at Ulke bol, where the assembled officers:determined that the position shall be defended to the last drop of blood. It is a wholesale slaughter with no other result than ultimate ruin; a sacrifice made to a point of honour which it is impossible not to respect, even for those who may be at a loss how to understand it. In some of the partial insurrections in the south of Europe, when a parcel of young students and other volunteers were put down by the disciplined armies of despots, all the consolation the conquerors received at the hands of European opinion was " that they were a pack of cravens," and that no nation is entitled to the enjoyment of independent existence unless it is ready to fight for that greatest of blessings " who would be free themselves should strike the blow." This taunt can hardly be flung into the teeth of agonising Denmark. Their soldiers are not only fighting like men—they fight as hardly any men fought before. Yet is there a hand in all Europe that will be raised to avert their fate or to avenge it ? APRIL 13. When we read or hear the particulars of some great battle in which the dead and 'wounded are strewing the ground by hundreds and thousands we are apt to think that we have become acquainted with war in its most appalling character, and that minor details are matters of commonplace interest. We speak indifferently of Bonaparte's second Italian war as the " campaign of Marengo," of the subju gation of Austria by the First Napoleon as the " campaign of Austerlitz." General engagements, however, are merely the gala-days, the great shows and pageants of a war. Its real horrors must be sought in those obscure skirmishes, in those weary marches, in those unwholesome bivouacs, in all that complication and aggravation of silent suffering of which history scarcely takes any note, and which, however, if set out in proper relief, would go further towards curing mankind of their corn bative and destructive propensities than any amount of carnage heaped up together in fair fight and in hot blood. Here, for instance, we have this war in Denmark going on for the last two months and a half with scarcely any actual fighting. It will require no trifling flourish of trumpets to dignify such partial encounters as those of Bustrup or 0 verso, or the attacks on Dybbol of the 17th and 28th into serious warlike events. There is no instanC", as far as we have learnt, of more than two or three regiments being engaged on either side, and such affairs es we had to record are rather the results of the fortui tous falling in of the van of one army with the rear of the other, rather the inevitable brush between the outposts watching each other than the delibe rate deed of one party marching out to meet the other with full intent that one of the two should be driven, routed and ancihilated, from the field. Yet what amount of killing and wounding have the Danes and the Germans contrived, or are even now contriving, to go through without actual fight ing! Our friendly officers come back from the bastions after their dreary nightwork, and what a terrible tale of miserably wasted lives have they not to tell ! Here an officer of artillery, on his way to out posts, is struck down from his horse, and has to be carried back severely wounded ; there another sits down at our table with his head bandaged in con sequence of some hard knock which has fractured his skull. A major of infantry is crushed by a shell in his tent, where he sat writing in the midst cf his encamped battalion. Another shell falls among a group of sleeping men, killing six and wounding one. These have become for us common place occurrences, and matter of daily experience. It is thus, in driblets, without lifting a hand in its de fence, that the Danish army is sinking, melting, as it were, before the fire of an invisible foe. The whole of yesterday we were stunned; the whole of last night we were kept awake by the incessant Prussian cannonade. One of their shells fell so very close to the great barn of the Sonderborg Lade gaard, my night quarter, that every pane of glass in our windows rattled, and the whele house shook. About half a score more have kept up the game in the course of this forenoon. It is not every cannon ball, nor every shell that kills, thank Heaven ! and all that terrible noise, which would seem to usher in the crack of doom, is found to have done much less harm than we anxious spectators had been led to apprehend. Still the fire of the Prussians has gained tenfold in intensity. The cannonade is five times as brisk ; it is kept up with five times as great a constancy and assiduty. The result is, of course, proportionate to the increased exertion. The time was when the Prussians fired about 500 shot daily, when the average loss to the Danes was four or five dead or woundei. We even remember the day when the shells that fell were 1,000, and we had no casualty to deplore. Now the Prussians have en circled the Dybbol bastions with a line of fire, from which no less than 6,000 or 7,000 shells are sLawared ou the Danes within the 24 hours; no wonder aur ing that same period if from 90 to 100 men are con veyed to Sonderborg to be consigned to the cares of either surgeon or undertaker, On Monday the dead and wounded were 78; yesterday, 138. At the rate of 100 per day the returns of the Dybbol siege will soon swell to the proportions of one of the world's decisive battles; and it must not be forgotten that the armies by which gigantic battles were lost or won mustered their combatants by hundreds of thousands; while the army from which hundreds are subtracted daily hardly consisted of 18,000 men at the beginning of the siege, and has not been kept up to that mark, in spite of the rein forcements constantly sent up to it. Denmark is a small State, and all its war establishment was on a somewhat diminutive scale. There is no lack of humanity towards the wounded, as far as the means of the medical department extend, but these means are, unfortunately, inadequate to the exigencies of the occasion. The sick and wounded are brought home in numbers for which the Government este. blishments were not prepared. The bombardment of Sonderborg has twice compelled the evacuation of the Castle Lazaret, of the Caroline Amelia School, and other improvised asylums of that nature. All the space that public or private charity provided for military sufferers at Augustenburg, Horup, Tend slet, and in every village in the island, has been long since exhausted, and as I rode up to Horup Hay this morning I fell in with a long, a very long train of country carts—a sad convoy of sick and wounded men, for whom no accommodation or attendance could be procured in any part of Alsen, and who must needs embark for Funen or Zealand, although it is doubtful whether many, or indeed any of them are in a fit state for the voyage, or likely to reach their destination alive; although some of them evinced by their haggard countenances and writhing features the agony which the jolting of those clumsy conveyances inflicted, and others bore it with that apathy which is often only the result of suspended animation; although it is more than doubtful whether the hospitals of the two larger islands and of Copenhagen itself will have any room to spare these poor wanderers, as ail houses set apart for such purposes are already crowded to seffoeation, No less than 12 corpses were this morning consigned to the churchyard turf at Augustenburg, all victireE, of the typhus fever, which has been raging f or s evea Noma ral days in the yards of the Slot - Lazaret. The worst calamitiee of war are weighing sorely on tha devoted army of the Danes. No wonder if exhausti on begins to be perceptible in its scanty resources , no wonder if confusion manifests itself in its council s . ing and evening the mach-enduring soldiers go forth, full aware of the fate that a waits many of them, but as yet unflinching in their duty, uncom plaining of hardships or dangers, or only occasionally murmuring that it " seems rather hard to have t° submit to this blind, passive butchery, and wishing it were their lot to break out of the line of their bas tions, to plunge into the midst of their foes regard.. less of inequality of numbers, and join with them in a close struggle, in which they could at least take life for life, and enhance the Prussians their victory by the high price they would have to pay fo r it." It was not to be so. The Danes must perish to it molt and their German enemi,s have it in their power to blow them from their guns with almost perfect ita" punity. The farmhouse at Ronhave has been deserted, and its 150 cows, driven from their stalls, are now wee deriug without shelter about the lanes of Ulkebol- Poor Farmer Rosen ! With a house lying on the Sound within reach of the Prussian rifles in thei r lurking-places on the opposite woods of Sandbjerg and Stoveskov, he has hitherto had an anxious time , of it. His young, pretty, and accomplished wife and infant children have long since been banished to s safer home. But Herr Rosen himself lingered on the spot, out of consideration to the Danish officers and soldiers quartered upon him, towards whom he ful• filled the duties of hospitality with a liberal hand. His semi-rustic establishment was on the gigan llc scale common in these regions, and was conducted with an order and care which entitled it to the honours of a model farm. Many are the Englis h officers and travellers whom, upon my introductio n ' he showed with a most justifiable pride all over his premises, and all of them agreed that neater build ings, a tidier yard, more wholesome cowhouses, sweeter dairy, a greater amount of rural wealth , thrift, and good management were hardly to be found in the most favoured districts of agricultur al England. So happy a home, such fertile lands, so charming a sit© could not be resigned without s pang. Farmer Rosen tarried on the spot, welcomed his visitors, drew for them the cork of his oldest bottle of Rhein wine, laid before them his choicest box of Havannahs, never inconvenienced by a crova in his parlour, never ruffled by the unavoidab le exigencies of half a score of officers billeted on him' never greatly disquieted by the rifle bullets that rattled on his window panes from the opposite shore of the Alssund. His day came at last, The Pros' sians have reared their batteries cn the edge of the Sandbjerg woods. They opened fire on Ronhave, as on any other point of their long line, not with any apparent object that one may see, but simp l y because they have guns and like to hear the noise of them. Yet a day or two, and the Minster-like bare' the 200-stall cowhouse, the stable with its 20 fart' horses, the hay-lofts, the granaries, all the pride and wealth of the gentleman-husbandman will be s' prey to the flames. Destruction has swept over the whole face of Dybbol and of the best part of Sue`, dewed. The turn must now come for the Isle 01 Alsen, and the tenements nearest the sea side mos t bear the first brunt of the war. Ronhave has gon e ' Our dear Sonderborg Ladegaard must soon follosv. The flocks have been penned up in the woods ; for the herds the foresters' huts will afford a refuge. Tne cart horses and part of the stock may pertaP g escape the impending wreck; and the family, in all probability, what still lingers behind of them, an d their guests, military as well as civil, will take themselves off in time. Shells and fragments of shells have not failed to give them timely warning for the last three or four days. COUNTRY MARKETS. COLCHESTER—Aritm 16. We had a good show of wheat on offer at this market to-day, and late rates were is lower, with a dull business• Barley found buyers at last week's rates, Beans and Pa ° fully supported late values. Wheat, white 44s 485 Beans, Mazagan..2BB 326 red 40s 44s middle & srnall.32s 3 66 Barley Oats . .., , 20s 25s grey 34s 3CO NORTHAMPTON—APRIL 9. White wheat, new, 38s to 425; new red, 30s to 403; old. 38s to 42s per qr. Barley, new malting, 33s to 355--- grinding, 25s to 303 per qr. Oats, 18s to 32s per 24 stow. Beans, 30s to 41s. Peas, 30s to 37s per qr. GLOUCESTER—APRIL 9. There was a fair supply of English wheat to-day from the tanners for which trade was dull, at about for mer prices. Foreign wheat in limited demand, at a slight re " duction. Spring corn inactive. CHELMSFORD—APRIL 15. At this corn exchange to-day there was a large show of wheat, which met a dull sale, and last week's rates were not maintained. Spring corn unaltered. Wheat, old white 30s 46s , yeas, Partridge....36s 38 , 4 new 44s 49s White 3 05 31 2 old red....34s 39s Boiling .. 38s 447 new 38s 42s Dun 3 1 s 35 ! Barley 25s 33s i Ditto new —s --,:, Chevalier ..26s 36s7Beans, Tick, old ..34s 3 v: Grinding 20s 28s new..--s ""„Z, Malt. Chevalier 64s 68s new ..--s ~S Oats 20s 2651 Mazagan .......28s 333 KIRKCALDY GRAIN—APRIL 16. We had a small quantity of wheat, oats, and barley day. Wheat and barley sold slowly, and much the 5 01 ,,,,," • in price as last week; but oats sold quickly at an adV O P . ' of 6d to is per qr. Wheat. Barley. Oats. First....32s 6d 27s Od I 16s 6d Second .. 35s Od 28s Od 17s 6d Third ....36s Od 31s Od 18s Od Persons in debt may obtain instant protection agaills imprisonment or seizure of their goods, and an entire releas e from all debts and liaLilities without publicity, by applicatio n to Messrs. Marshall, solic.tors of the Court of Bankruptcy' . Charges under L 5 payable by easy instalments. Offices' (established 1830), 12, Hatton-garden. City branch-6, 3100r gate-street, Bank.—ADvT. _ _ ADVERTISEMENT.} -Avoid medicines: they always a°, - ,cfr iv Tate chronic complaints, but Du Barry's Delicious 110 0111 Restoring Revalenta Arabica Food, which saves fifty WO its cost in other remedies, invariably cures them, restoring perfect digestion, strong nerves, sound lungs, healthy liver' pure blood, refreshing sleep, functional regularity, and energy to the most disordered or enfeebled. We extract a few out of 60,000 Cures:—Cure No. 58,216 of the Marchioness do Brehan, Paris, of a liver complaint, wasting away for seven years, debility, with a nervous palpitation all over, ba d digestion, constant sleeplessness, the most intolerable nervong agitation, and dreadfully low spirited.—Cure ITo. 1,771. Lord sOart de Decics, Lord Lieut. of Waterford, of many years' d yspe oia.—No. 49,832. "Fifty years' indescrbable agony from dysp,lnsia, nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation. flatulency, spa: his, sickness, and vomiting.—Maria —Cure No. 46,270. Mr. James Roberts, of Frimley, Surrey, o f thirty years' diseasen lungs, spitting of blood, liver derange • ment, and partial deafneSs. — Cure No. 47,121. Miss Elizabeth Jacobs, of extreme nervousness, indigestion, gatheriags, loW' spirits, and nervous fancies.—Cure No. 54,816. The Rev. Jas' T. Campbell, Fakenham, Norfolk, "of indigestion and torpl', dity of the liver, which had resisted all medical treatm ent. In tins, 1 lb., 2s. 9d. ; 21b., 4s. 6d ; 51b., 11s. ; 121 b., 228 . ; 241-b• 405.—Barry Du Barry and Co., No. 77, Regent-street, London; also Fortnum and Mason ; and all Grocers and Chemists is every town of the United Kingdom. Births. COMBER.—On the 16th inst , at Stand House, Lancashire, the wife of Commander H. W. Comber, H.M,S. Pelicauo of a daughter. FITZHERBERT,--On the 17th inst., at Swynnerton-pa t Staffordshire, the wife of Basil Fitzherbert, Esq., "e son. RIDDELL.—On the 15th inst., at 48, 7hurloe-square, La a l Henrietta Riddell, of a daughter. Marriages. BALFOUR—IVEGUELIN.—On the 14th inst., at St. Paur g i Knightsbridge, Archibald Balfour, Esq., fourth son. Charles Balfour, Esq., of 66, Eccleston-square, to Sor„ „ " V A Charlotte, eldest daughter of T. M. Weguelin, ' M.P., of 23, Eaton-square. GRIGOS—LEA.—On the 15th inst., at Romfori, Es °lP George Griggs, E , q to Harriet Sarah, daughter of .S" H. Lea, Es'cl - „ of CUtions, Ronford. . MACKAY—KYLES.—On the 15th inst., al 3, North Rich: rnond•strcet, Edinburgh, by the Rev. Ninian Richmond•street Chapel, Mr. Hugh Mackay, to Isa b d e! l is : second daughter of Mr. Andrew Kyles, tailor, burgh. Deaths. the 17th hist., at 11,_Lorn-terrace, park, Mr. Alfred ..kustie, aged Si. BURNELL—On tho 16th inst., at Cheyne-walk, cheisoi Henry Burnell, Esq., aged 83. DIVES.—On the 17th inst., Mr. Jas. Dives, of halo Farm/ Nutfield, Surrey. HICHENS.—On the 15th inst., at St. Ice's, Cornwall, slid.. denly, Wm. Hitchens, Esq., aged 70. HEMPSON —On the 17th inst., at Derby-street, Mayfair, Mr. P. liempson, M.R.C.V.S., aged 30. RIDDELL.—On the 17th inst., at 32, Eversfield-place , St : Leonard's on-Sea, George Hutton Riddell, Esq., of Carlton-on-Trent, Notts, aged London: Printed and Prbffshed by WILLIA3I ANDRE-XS, of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at Inz Sufg Office No. 112, Strand, in the Precinct of the :Savoy, n the Couu'Y of Middlesex.7-Tuesday,:Arril 19,.1661.